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The Leper Tree of Malawi | Amazing Images.

Leprosy is a curable disease, but less than seventy years ago, people
were dying from it. After the end of the 17th century, leprosy became a
significant problem not only in the poorer countries of Africa and
Asia, but western Europe as well. Because of lack of understanding about
the disease, the unavailability of a cure and the disfigurement it
brought to the sufferers, lepers were often ostracized in society.
People suffering from leprosy were forcibly removed from their
communities, quarantined, or even killed.
In the country of
Malawi in southeast Africa, people who died due to leprosy were not
given proper burial. They were not buried in the ground, but either left
hanging from a tree in a graveyard or tied up and put inside a hollow
tree and left to die, so that the earth would not be contaminated by the
disease. Such an incident is reported to have occurred in the village
of Liwonde, as recently as sixty years ago.Photo credit According
to the story, nine people from a local tribe fell ill with leprosy. In
order to keep the disease from spreading, individuals were rounded up,
tied and led to a large baobab tree at the base of Chinguni Hill. They
were then thrown into the hollow of the baobab and left to die. The
"Leper Tree," as it has become known, remains standing today though it
doubles over to one side, and there’s lesions and sores on its bark. On
its trunk appears a hand-painted sign that reads: “The grave for people
who suffered from leprosy in the past.” You can still poke your head
into the hollow and see skulls and skeletons lying at the bottom. Photo creditPhoto credit
Sources: Atlas Obscura / prentissdarden.wordpress.com / reprobate.co.za